Sugary snack is sparse in Rochester as locals stock up

Tuesday

Nov 20, 2012 at 10:15 AMNov 20, 2012 at 10:39 AM

By Andrea Bulfinchabulfinch@fosters.com

ROCHESTER — An American food icon is laid to rest, and some loyal snack lovers lined up at local thrift shops and grocery stores to grab the last of their favorite treats, sweets and tastes of nostalgia. Others, meanwhile, were seeing the opportunity to make a buck or two off dwindling Hostess items die as well.

Selling for $80, five boxes of “Twinkies Golden Sponge Cake With Creamy Filling” had only 14 bids on the popular auction website, eBay. Christmas themed Twinkies were priced just under that amount at $75. And, a box of the less-mentioned Orange cupcakes were priced the lowest at $14.95 — with free shipping.

For the ambitious do-it-yourselfer, a “Bake Your Own” Hostess Twinkies pan and baking set was available on the site for $59.99 plus $11 shipping and handling.

Local grocery stores, however, were seeing some returns on Monday of the beloved snack items, perhaps an indication of a failed money-making plan.

At Hannaford on North Main Street in Rochester, Foster's learned there were at least 10 boxes of Hostess items returned to the customer service desk where an employee said she and other staff were lightheartedly pondering whether someone was unable to sell their Twinkies for “top dollar.”

“We wondered why so many were coming back,” the customer service representative, who remained anonymous but confirmed the return, said.

To the contrary, management said the store was not seeing “anything out of the ordinary” in terms of returned goods for the day.

The customer service employee did note the supply of items returned were “out of code” as well.

On Hancock Street at the Wonder Bread Bakery Thrift Store, both longtime employees and customers were upset to see the landmark prepare to close.

At 1 p.m. on Monday, a sign hung on the thriftshop door alerting patrons the store would be closed for an hour to restock shelves. When doors opened there were many remaining empty shelves and an employee announced to a waiting group of shoppers there was still no bread or cake available yet.

As they waited in the parking lot, some customers joked they would stock up on the popular items and sell them on eBay.

But, some were just stocking up for themselves to avoid being a high-paying eBay customer at some point.

“I refuse to pay $20 for a box of Twinkies,” Sandy Kohl, of Rochester, said.

As they entered the store, customers were amazed at the number of people who filled the aisles of the small store.

“This is the busiest I've ever seen the place,” Tisha Wade, of Rochester, said. A frequent customer with four children at home, she said she frequents the shop and is sad to see it closing.

She said it's not just for the baked goods and sugary snacks that she visits, but there are always some healthier items, like fruit snacks, available as well.

Wade said one of her children is autistic and just loves the frosting-coated honey buns

“He just loves all that stuff and is very upset that their going out of business,” she said.

“This is the emptiest I've ever seen the shelves!,” was shouted from a disappointed customer over the packed aisles.

While there was a solid supply of cereal and fruitcake; Twinkies, doughnuts and cake were unseen, but according to longtime district sales manager Kevin Clements, a supply of Wonder bread — what will be the last of the final batch — was expected on Tuesday, just in time for Thanksgiving at least.

“We have a lot of really great employees,” he said. “A great crew here, especially.”

After working at the store for 30 years, he said a lot of the customers had become like family.

“We'll miss all our customers because we had some really fantastic customers,” he said.

Though employees, including Davidson, were asked not to comment on the company's closing, he was open about how sad the crew in Rochester was upon hearing the news.

“We're sorry to see it go,” he said.

Clements said he expected the store to remain open through Friday.

Calls to the “Hostess Brands” media center for comment were not immediately returned to Foster's on Monday.

Filling the trunk of her car with bags of items, Kathy Davidson, of Rochester, who had been shopping with Kohl, who loves the chocolate and peanut butter the Funny Bones most, said she visits the store a few times a month and echoed Clements sentiment.

“It's a shame, because it's been an icon in the U.S.,” Davidson said.

Just as a steady stream of cars continued to pull into the parking lot, vehicles exited one by one carrying the last of Rochester's Hostess goods from the thriftshop.

“We're sorry to see it go!” Davidson shouted from her car as she drove off.

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